The Priory and Parish Church of St Mary was founded in 1094 by Roger de Poitou on the site of the earlier Saxon church. Tours feature the exquisitely carved mediaeval choirstalls, and numerous religious artefacts and architectural remains of Dark Age antiquity. Memorials to local characters dating back centuries are also curiosities of considerable historical interest.

The King's Own Memorial Chapel built in the early 20th Century in a side chapel displays a comprehensive collection of Regimental Colours and memorial records.

Lancaster Priory has a history that goes back to the Dark Ages, and if you take a look at their website it looks to have a thriving presence and a bright future too.

Nowadays we have the tabloid press to educate us about the location and nature of evil and in mediaeval days they had their ways too. In an era with no TV, cinema or recorded music, where even colours for clothes dyes or paintings were rare and precious, the spectacle of the church, with its fabulously rainbow-hued decorations and coloured lights, its rituals with richly textured robes, perfumes, music and choirs overwhelmed every sense, with an impact it is difficult for us even to comprehend now, although the advertising we see all around us constantly competes to storm our minds and senses and manipulate our insecurities in the same way.

The carvings speak for themselves to communicate across the years how people then were encouraged to see the spiritual world, and how their personal fears were reflected in their arts and crafts.

It is absolutely fascinating to begin to get an insight into the way the medieval English understood their daily reality to be underpinned by powerful, supernatural individuals.

In addition to the fear of supernatural forces, the adjacent castle, with its dungeons, and comprehensive facilities for interrogation and torture conveyed from the summit of Castle Hill a clearly visible message of authority and power to the common people.

It looks so lovely now, set romantically in in this beautiful rural coastal landscape.

There's a lot more at the Priory (including a tearoom) ...this is just a taste.

Priory Tours info

The Priory Bookshop is open daily from 12 - 2pm.
There is some on-street parking nearby. The nearest carpark is under neigbouring Mitre House.

See Lancaster Priory website for more information.

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